This invention relates generally to processing of semiconductor diodes, and more particularly to the assembly of such semiconductor diodes with capacitor bodies to form an assembly such as a voltage multiplier circuit, and to the handling and processing of such assemblies.
In the past it has been common practice to stack, bond and sever silicon wafers to form individual diodes or rectifiers and to separately process these diodes or rectifiers through etching and passivation into finished, axial lead components. The latter products were then physically and electrically connected to capacitors in forming voltage multipliers. The expense and inconvenience of handling and processing the rectifiers as individual parts was thought necessary because of the prevalent view that the rectifiers could not be etched and passivated while attached to the capacitors without chemically "poisoning" the diodes, the capacitors, or both, with resultant loss in electrical effectiveness.
We have discovered that the latter view is not necessarily correct and have further discovered means by which silicon rectifier stacks can be connected with ceramic capacitor bodies as a preliminary assembly to be handled and etched as a single unit. In addition to the cost benefits of this process, substantial size reduction is realized in the finished assembly. Such size reduction is both useful and desirable in many applications.